"If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence." - from George Eliot’s Middlemarch

Disclaimer: I don’t own the X-Men. I am not making any money off of this. I’m unemployed so I am also not making money in general. Thus, suing me would not get you a lot.

Summary: The Cure is only temporary. While healing Rogue and Magneto find each other and realize they have more in common than they originally thought.

Soundtrack: I recommend the song “C’Mon C’Mon” by the Von Bondies because it makes a good fight song.

Dedication: To genkaishihan because she’s from Pennsylvania like me and small town life in PA is unbelievably boring. I wish her all the luck in the world getting to France.

Notes: Okay, I hope my readers haven’t abandoned me. If you’re still with me and curious what exactly is going on between Logan and Rogue and Erik, keep reading to find out. I promise it’ll all make sense and fit with the story soon.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The X-Men Live on Jerry Springer

Logan and Rogue and Magneto:

When Logan woke up holding Marie in his arms he remembered what had passed between them the night before. He nuzzled her hair covered head with his nose affectionately, careful not to wake her up. Marie was beautiful as she slept and Logan smiled to himself, thinking how lucky he was to finally get things right between them. He loved her in an easy, relaxed fashion. They were friends first and that symbiosis lent an immediate intimacy to their relationship. For maybe the first time in his life, Logan felt like he had come home.

He had risen from the bed carefully then and donned a set of X-Men sweat pants and matching sweatshirt. He wanted to head down to the kitchen and get some breakfast, maybe even bring Rogue breakfast in bed. Sex made Logan hungry. Actually everything made Logan hungry, his fantastic healing ability took a lot of energy to fuel.

After dressing, he walked downstairs. The mansion was quiet and the halls were empty; it was very early in the morning. When he walked into the kitchen, he was shocked to see Rogue there, fully dressed, buttering a slice of wheat toast. He had just left her in bed.

“How did you beat me down here? I just left you asleep upstairs?” Logan asked. Only a minute ago Rogue had been asleep in his bed. She must have dressed really quickly and taken the back stairs to beat him. But she couldn’t have gotten downstairs that quick, could she?

Rogue was preparing breakfast for herself. She and Erik had woken early after their vigorous and tiring night. Erik had snuck back to his room before anyone could realize they had spent the night together. She knew he loathed hiding but it was easier not to let the X-Men know about them. Despite getting little sleep, Rogue felt completely refreshed and she was smiling and whistling the beat of ‘Good Good Lovin’ by Brian McComas. She had no clue what Logan was referring to.

“What do ya mean just left me upstairs? Ah’ve been up for 20 minutes.” Rogue said. She assumed Logan was still asleep and groggy. He wasn’t making any sense. He must have had a rough night and had nightmares again. He had a glaring red scratch on his neck.

“No you haven’t been. I just left you sleeping in my bed barely a minute ago.” Logan eyed her suspiciously. Rogue stopped buttering her toast.

“Ah didn’t sleep in your bed. Ah slept in my bed Logan. You must have been dreamin’.” He walked closer to her, eyeing her as though she had suddenly sprouted a new mutation and turned purple and polka-dotted. He leaned real close to her and whispered intimately in her ear.

“Well, we didn’t sleep much and it was like a dream. A very hot and wild dream Marie. Remember?”

Rogue’s eyes went wide. What the hell was Logan talking about?

“What’s gotten into ya? Ah didn’t sleep in your bed and we didn’t sleep together last night!” Rogue yelled at him. Logan pulled back and studied her, checking to see if she was herself.

“Are you alright? Are you lost in one of your memories again? We definitely slept together.” Logan lowered his voice. “I told you I loved you. I ran my claws up and down your stomach. Does that jog any memories?”

Rogue was freaked out and she dropped the butter knife on the floor.

“I couldn’t have slept with you last night. I was with-” Rogue stopped herself before she went too far. If she had said Erik’s name, Logan would have flipped out.

“You were with who?” Logan growled at her lost between confusion and anger. What was going on here? Had Rogue lost her mind again? Uh oh, Rogue thought to herself, he had heard her slip. Before she could think of an answer a voice called from the hall.

“She was with me last night. So she could not have slept with you.” It was Erik. He walked in, well dressed in a charcoal grey button down shirt and black Armani pants, fresh from the shower and recently shaved. He had heard their conversation from the hall. Erik was not one to enjoy lying and hiding secrets from others except when it served the benefits of his cause. So the cat might as well leave the bag as far as he was concerned. That and he didn’t take lightly to Logan insinuating that his Marie had slept with him, when Erik knew very well she had not.

When Logan heard Magneto answer him and saw him enter the room a smug grin firmly entrenched on his face, he didn’t know what to think. He looked back and forth between Magneto and Rogue, noticing Rogue’s growing pink blush and Magneto’s grin growing wider and wider. He unsheathed the claws on his right hand, more from perplexity than fear. He could not believe that what Magneto had hinted was true.

“Are you sayin’ Marie slept with you last night?” Logan looked over at Rogue. “Did you?”

“Yes, but it’s not what you think Logan.” Rogue admitted, realizing she might as well confess to her crime. She was proud to be Erik’s lover, but that didn’t mean she had ever wanted Logan to find out. She knew she should tell her best friend, but she couldn’t think of any way to do so where he wouldn’t react, well, like this. Logan unsheathed his left claws.

“What do you mean it’s not what I think?” His voice was a snarl and held barely suppressed ire. Magneto held up a palm and used a magnetic field to hold the Wolverine in place.

“Calm down and let Marie explain.” He told the Wolverine in his usual commanding baritone that was unceasingly obeyed.

“I’ve liked Erik since Albany, Logan.” She pleaded with her large doll-like eyes for him to understand. She didn’t want him to think Erik had taken advantage of her. She wanted Logan to be happy for her. “When I went to the Brotherhood, I began to see more of him and I feel in love with him. He’s not an evil man like you think he is. He’s just misunderstood.” It warmed Erik’s heart to hear Marie defend him. However, it had the opposite effect on Logan’s heart: it chilled it.

“If you slept with Erik, then who did I sleep with last night?” Logan said, chafing and shifting against Magneto’s force field holding him back. Erik rubbed his chin and considered the issue.

“It must have been Mystique.” He answered him.

“Wait, how do I know you’re not Mystique?” Logan said gesturing with a nod of his head toward Marie.

“Rogue.” Erik said pointedly and looked at her. She understood just what he meant. She walked over to Logan and touched his cheek with her bare, uncovered hand. Logan’s eyes turned wide, but not from the pain of Rogue’s mutation which sucked him for several seconds. No, Logan couldn’t believe the other man Marie had mentioned the night before was Magneto. And the woman he had had sex with and confessed his love to was the imposter Mystique. This was plenty of cause for Logan to get angry and bashed against Magneto’s restraint until Erik released him.

Despite Rogue’s defense of Magneto, Logan could never trust a man who had once tried to kill his friend. The idea of the older Magneto and his beautiful Marie was enough to cause Logan to go into an attacking frenzy. However, there was still the fake Rogue sleeping soundly upstairs in his bed. For a moment, Logan looked back and forth between the kitchen entrance and Magneto, unsure whether Mystique or Magneto deserved his wrath first. Finally, with a growl worthy of a true wolverine he made his decision.

With his claws extended Logan ran out of the kitchen and bounded down the hall intent on catching Mystique.

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Mystique:

She woke up when she felt Logan shift on the bed. It had not been hard to keep her form as Rogue overnight. She had stayed in character several times in the past. It took a little mental willpower, and sleeping with one-eye open but it wasn’t undoable. When Logan had left she got up and retrieved the clothes she had stolen from Rogue’s room the night before when she had been asleep. Logan had been much easier to manipulate this time and Mystique reveled in her success.

She had not planned to have revenge sex with Logan. She wasn’t even aware of her intense jealousy of Rogue until recently. When she had seen Erik’s concern over Rogue’s illness in contrast to his abandonment of her in that moving prison, something had snapped within her. Oh, it hadn’t been easy before that living and working so close to her former lover. Despite their falling out there were still residual feelings for him that Mystique hated having. Just being around Erik brought them back and slowly as the months past and the pain of lying on that cold steel floor naked and human faded, she began to feel as though she could love him again.

It irked her to see Rogue as the new recipient of his affections. The younger mutant had securely taken her place as Erik’s lover and it caused Mystique distress every time she saw the girl with her dear Erik’s white hair interwoven in hers. Their fight in the practice room on the Island had been a long time in coming but it had not satisfied Mystique. She hated herself for her jealousy, for letting this bother her so much. Other than the Cause, all Mystique had ever had in life was Erik and life without him was bleak and dull.

So when she had arrived at the mansion, particularly resentful about the entire purpose of the trip, she had been predisposed to be on her worst behavior. She was a natural trickster; It was one of her few outlets for enjoyment. It was no secret between either the Brotherhood or the X-Men that Rogue had had a large, healthy crush on the Wolverine. She had thrilled to see Rogue gravitate towards Logan of her own volition and she had taken great delight in watching Erik’s jealous reactions to Marie’s friendship with the Wolverine. She had made a habit of watching the couple together, hoping with all her heart that what had happened last night might occur. She had wanted Logan to pursue Rogue and she had idly hoped Rogue would return Logan’s affections.

Only when Mystique had seen the two kissing in the common room through the large windows that led to the veranda had she seriously considered playing a trick on Erik and Rogue. She had been out gazing at the stars, hoping to relieve some of her frustrations with being at the mansion when she had seen them. The mansion was a large building, but with so many occupants there was bound to be little privacy. Hadn’t Wolverine and Rogue realized this? She had watched them embrace and kiss but when they pulled apart and started to speak to each other, she was unable to hear them. So she had gone back inside the mansion and walked towards the kitchen.

However, before she could reach the kitchen, she had seen Erik leave it. She knew him well enough to know when he was angry and last night he was furious. He must have seen them too, she thought to herself. Quickly a plan formed in her mind. Rogue had stopped before truly cheating on Erik and sleeping with Logan, but what if she hadn’t? If Mystique pretended to be Rogue and slept with Logan no one would ever be the wiser. Erik would surely believe Rogue was guilty; he had just seen them kissing. Logan would believe that he had slept with Rogue as well. Only the true Rogue would know this wasn’t true and what was her opinion worth? She had been crazy and acting weird for the last month now from all the memories in her head. No one would believe her if she denied it.

It was a genius plan and Mystique set about putting it into action immediately. She followed Logan up to his room, but he stopped by Rogue’s room first. She waited patiently outside the door, listening into their conversation. She had hoped Rogue would chose Logan but Mystique was prepared when she didn’t. It wasn’t like the idea of seducing Logan was unappealing to her. He was incredibly handsome and she would have had to be blind not to be attracted to him. Plus, her ego was still smarting from when he had beaten her and stabbed her with his claws on Liberty Island.

No, it had been fun to carry out her plan. She had waited till Rogue was asleep to steel her discarded clothes that she had been wearing earlier that day. Then she had gone to Logan’s room; he was so vulnerable it hadn’t taken much acting to get him into bed. She had worried her lack of deadly skin would be discovered, but the whole thing had gone off without a hitch. And Logan, while not as good a lover as Erik, had been very enjoyable. He was different, far wilder in bed; it took some getting used to but was certainly fun. Mystique smiled to herself. All in all, not a bad night’s work.

All that was left now was to return Rogue’s clothes and head back to her own room, to innocently emerge as her beautiful blue self and watch Erik and Rogue’s relationship fall apart. And then, when Erik was smarting from that tramp’s betrayal, Mystique would be there to comfort him and everything would be back to normal.

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Everyone:

Logan found her in the hall still dressed and morphed as Rogue. His heart was pounding in anger. His blood was literally boiling. And much as the cliché says he was seeing red. Not particularly everything bathed in the harsh color, but rather it was more like tunnel vision. All he saw was Rogue/Mystique in front of him and everything else faded into the background.

He leaped towards her, trying to tackle her. He caught her easily, she didn’t resist. They fell to the ground and he pinned her down. She only smiled at him.

“Are you ready to go again Logan?” She giggled lightly. “We really shouldn’t do this in the hallway.”

Her attempt to continue playing him incensed the Wolverine’s wrath more. How did he manage to find such a cheating bitch sexy? Well he had the night before, when she had played his beloved Rogue as wild and uninhibited. And he had been a bit tempted by her seduction in the tent of Alkali Lake though he was loathe to admit it. Still his attraction to her now was eclipsed by his murderous rage.

He had believed Marie loved him. He had thought he was finally going to have a chance to see where this could go. Instead, he had been duped and made a fool of. His feelings crushed and his heart strings plucked for no reason. He vowed Mystique would pay.

He picked her up by her collar and threw her against the wall. As her back collided with the stiff wood paneling, she knew her game was up. The shock and pain that flooded into her caused her to morph back into her familiar blue scaly form. However, she still wore Rogue’s camisole and jean skirt, though now they were ridiculously too short for her.

Mystique had unbelievably quick reflexes and flipped back up on her feet. Logan was on her quickly, but she dodged him with ease. She tried to kick him with her usual roundhouse, but the tight jean skirt restricted her. She had to distract Logan for a second to take it off. She dove between Logan’s wide-spread legs and rolled behind him; this bought her enough time to ditch the skirt and top before Logan pummeled into her from behind.

She struggled with him as he held onto her wrists. She twisted around and brought her right foot down on his left. Then when he looked down she brought up her knee and kneed him where the sun doesn’t shine. Wolverine let lose a horrific howl of pain. He backed away and fell to the ground in pain. Mystique ran down the hallway away from the prone Logan.

However his healing ability allowed him to recover from even such a painful blow blazingly quickly. He was able to stand up only a few seconds later, but Mystique was down the hallway. Looking for something to throw all Logan sighted was one of the straight-back walnut chairs the Professor had favored, which lined the hallway. Without thinking, Logan hurled the expensive chair down the hallway at Mystique and it caught her squarely in the back. She dropped to the ground and the chair broke apart. (Another item added to Magneto’s bill).

Logan ran to get to Mystique’s prostrate form but was unable to move after a few steps. Something was holding him in place: It was Magneto.

Magneto had followed Logan up the stairs to see the fight that was sure to ensue when the feral mutant found his target. He did enjoy watching his ex-lover Mystique being pummeled despite how she had overstepped her bounds this time. He could not allow the Wolverine to hurt his dear Mystique any longer, so he held the adamantium in his skeleton back and levitated Logan over to the hallway’s wall.

“Control yourself Wolverine.” Erik said, holding his right hand out in front of him as he held the mutant in place with a magnetic field.

“Stay away from Marie. You don’t deserve her.” Logan hollered. Magneto only sneered at him. Although he knew Marie loved him, Erik had no fond feelings for the Wolverine.

Logan strained and twisted trying to free himself, but as always he was hopelessly defeated my Magneto’s magnetism. Finally he did the only thing he could think to do. He spit on Erik.

Erik wiped the spit off from where it landed on his cheek with the back of his sleeve. He seemed shocked and appalled by Logan’s repugnant behavior. Erik was using his right hand to extend the magnetic field that was keeping Wolverine in place. Suddenly he spread his fingers apart in what resembled a Vulcan ‘V’ hand sign.

Wolverine’s outstretched claws began to bend apart and Logan winced in dreadful pain.

“Stop! Don’t hurt him Erik.” Rogue shouted. She appeared at the top of the stairs and moved to Erik’s side to try and prevent him from hurting her friend further.

Mystique, who had recovered from being hit in the back by the chair, now pulled herself up and confronted her rival. She scoffed at her.

“You don’t really love Erik, do you? Taking Wolverine’s side.” That got Rogue’s attention and she stared the blue woman down. “I saw what you did last night with him. Lusting after him like a dog in heat.”

“I did not ‘lust after him’!” Rogue cried.

“Really?” Mystique said, crossing her arms and daring Rogue to correct her assessment of her couch aerobics with Logan. Rogue, however, had had enough. Not only had Mystique insulted her; she’d tricked Logan and hurt his feelings.

Rogue lashed out and landed a side kick to Mystique’s knee that dropped her to the floor of the hallway. Mystique, however, was an extremely well trained fighter and in her fall wrapped her foot and ankle around Rogue’s legs and pulled Rogue down with her. Mystique leaped back up quicker than Rogue and seeing one the chair’s broken legs lying around picked it up and swung it at Rogue. Rogue blocked the blow and tried to fight her way to a standing position.

“What’s going on here?” Storm said. She had come running from her bedroom on the lower floor when she had heard all the commotion. She was dressed in a white satin chemise that she had slept in the night before. Storm was the first on the scene because she was the head disciplinarian and she was used to responding to fights between the younger mutants. She surveyed the scene before her: Magneto had Logan pinned to the wall and was twisting his claws into curls, while Rogue and Mystique fought tooth and nail against each other.

When no one seemed to notice her presence, Storm decided her first priority should be to break up the fight between Mystique and Rogue. So Storm tried to get in between the two women who were kicking and swinging chair legs at each other. Ororo had unfortunately miscalculated the animosity between the two mutants and before she could halt the fight she took a chair leg to the breast and let out a “Uewwfff”. Her eyes watered from the pain.

Storm got caught in the fray between Mystique and Rogue, and she was less equipped without a chair leg to swing as a bludgeoning tool. The sky darkened outside and rain began to fall in earnest.

Beast had woken up when Storm had woken up. (Hint Hint) Despite it being summer, Dr. McCoy was properly attired in a long-sleeved pajama set covered by a red robe and slippers.

“I’ll save you Ororo!” Beast yelled as he jumped into the fray between the two women. He slipped on his slippers and was caught between Mystique’s spring kick and Rogue’s stomp kick punch combination. For a few minutes the group was caught in a pretzel between the two combatants and the two peacekeepers. Everyone’s punches and kicks hit someone other than their mark and no one seemed to make any progress.

“No one disturbs the Juggarnaut’s sleep!” Juggarnaut appeared on the scene in his favorite Harry Potter boxer shorts. His room was close by and he was never one to miss a good brawl. And this was shaping up to be an excellent brawl, Brotherhood vs. X-Men, and every mutant for themselves. Picking a good opponent, he charged at Beast. Beast tried to dodge Juggarnaut’s attack but he was stuck between Rogue, Storm, and Mystique in the cramped space of the hallway. He geared down in preparation for Juggarnaut’s assault.

Juggarnaut drove Beast through the hallway wall that was behind him and unable to slow down, followed him through. A gaping hole appeared in the hallway wall. (Another item Magneto would have to pay for). More holes appeared as Beast and Juggarnaut battled each other; Juggarnaut running through the thin interior dry walls of the mansion and leaving holes like they were Swiss cheese. Furniture could be heard being hurled about as they fought: the genius mutant vs. the incredibly dense mutant. (Very expensive repairs added to Magneto’s bill).

With Beast occupied, Storm gave up on trying to stop the fight between Mystique and Rogue. After she disengaged from the fray she saw that Magneto was still torturing Logan. Quickly what had begun as a minor squall turned into a Nor’easter complete with pouring rain. Lightening flashed frequently and was accompanied by the booms of thunder. Storm had to free Logan.

She prepared to use her mutant abilities to try to stop the formidable Magneto while he was distracted. Her eyes rolled white and she spread her hands out. In a wind that seemed to come from no where her hair blew around her. She summoned her lightening to her, though it would not work in an interior room like this with no windows. Now she razed gale force winds to assault the mansion and with a deafening sound of wood, metal, and stone ripping apart a section of the mansion roof flew off. It left the hallway and much of the second floor exposed to the elements. Magneto and his powerful magnetic fields were the perfect conducting rod and there would be no problem striking him with lightening now.

It was impossible not to notice Storm raising the roof off the mansion as she made ready to strike Erik with lightening. Rogue knew she had to stop her, so she decided she would use her mutation to its advantage. Putting out her hand, she extended her skin’s deadly pull and dropped Storm like a bad habit.

Standing over Storm’s prone form Rogue said, “That’s what a liability can do.”

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Notes: Let me apologize to all the fans that love the RogueXLogan or Rogan pairing.It was my first X-Men pairing and I have great respect for it. However, I’m a huge Ian McKellen fan and after reading several Rogue/Magneto stories I fell in love with how interesting the pairing proved to be. So the Rogan in this story was just a convenient plot twist and way to scare my dear readers. I’m betting you didn’t see it coming, right?

I will try to write a mid-length Rogan story in the future to try to make all of you happy. But I do have a lot of other projects planned in the meantime.

It was extremely fun to write Mystique in this chapter. I am gearing up for a mid-length Magneto/Mystique story in the future. I’m slowly warming to her character and it’s all KumaDaPuma’s doing.

This chapter is such a Jerry Springer episode. There’s confusion over who slept with whom, someone throws a chair, everyone fights, and there’s a cat fight. I hadn’t actually planned on it being that camp, but I think it works pretty well.

Leave a review and tell me whether or not you think the Rogue/Logan thing screwed up the entire story. Did I manage to scare you without turning off my readers? Do you understand the function of the chapter now?

Preview: The fight continues. You’ll finally get to see the confrontation between Bobby, Rogue, and Kitty.